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ITV was thrown into turmoil once again today as Sir Michael Bishop became the second candidate to rule himself out as its new chairman, and chief operating officer John Cresswell said he will quit in the near future.
Bishop, who became front-runner to replace Michael Grade after Sir Crispin Davis also ruled himself out last week, is understood to have declined the job because he believed that it would take up too much of his time.
The chairmanship of ITV is increasingly seen as the poisoned chalice of broadcasting.
Earlier this year Bishop, who is a former chairman of Channel 4, collected more than £220 million from the sale to Lufthansa of his remaining 50% stake in bmi British Midland, the airline he founded.
ITV said in statement to the Stock Exchange that its nominations committee, which is chaired by former HBOS chief Sir James Crosby, had “revised its shortlist accordingly and is continuing its search with all due speed.”
That shortlist includes Vanni Treves, another former chairman of Channel 4, Sir Chris Gent, Sir Martin Broughton and Sir Christopher Bland.
The longest-running soap opera in commercial television kicked off in April when Grade surprised the industry by announcing that he would stand down as executive chairman of ITV by the end of the year.
That kick-started the search for both a new chief executive and a new chairman of the broadcaster of Coronation Street and the X Factor.
Over the summer Tony Ball, the former chief executive of BSkyB, emerged as front-runner for the chief executive role but last month talks with him broke down over the size of the bonus package he had demanded and his objections to some of the candidates to become chairman.
Ball's camp is widely believed to have revealed both Davis and Bishop as the lead candidates for the chairmanship in a bid to remove them from the shortlist. One television insider said: “Tony has outed and ousted them. That could mean he's back in the frame.”
ITV made it clear today that it will first appoint its new chairman.
It said that Cresswell would become acting chief executive at that point until a new one is appointed and that he would then leave ITV “to face new challenges”.”
Cresswell is annoyed that he has now been overlooked as a permanent candidate for the chief executive job several times.
But he now has the chance to run the company for some months and could depart with a sizeable pay-off.
ITV acknowledged that it original timetable of recruiting both a chairman and chief executive by the end of the year was now likely to slip.
It is still keen to replace Grade this year but his successor will have a major say in who will be the new chief executive which could push that appointment well into the new year.
Bookies' odds
Vanni Treves 5-2
Sir Chris Gent 4-1
Sir Martin Broughton 5-1
Niall FitzGerald 11-2
Peter Bazalgette 7-1
Lord Putnam 7-1
Sir David Varney 7-1
Gavyn Davies 8-1
Sir Christopher Bland 12-1
Source: BGC Partners
Reader views (1)
Perhaps Simon Cowell could conduct a UK wide search and interview in the form of 'Britain’s got Talent' that might generate some public interest in this vacancy
I would suggest Alan Sugar but his program is not really about finding industry leaders.
- James, City of London, 12/10/2009 10:26
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